Hi guys.

I haven't posted here for a long time because school is taking up all my time.
My hobby remains 3D but I'm severely out of training.
All of you guys are like idols, and your work is astonishing.

I have started on this "poker chip" project as a simple training for UV mapping etc. and to get going again

This is what I've got so far:

Almost all of my work with texturering makes my renders very dull even though i try to use blinn shaders and mental rays final gather etc.

Please give me some tips for improvements and do, tell how i could have dont things differently.

Thx in advance guys. Your great

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Looking good so far!

A few suggestions:
Your texture seems a bit flat. Try to add some depth by adding a bump map. I can kind of see that you made your texture in photoshop without a reference, making your colors flat. Get a poker chip and scan it or take a pic of it or if you have to download it.

Add a bit more of geometry to make the chip seem much more round. Add some shadows and place it like on a poker table or lay it on something. This will make your chip stand out much more.

Hope this helps!

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EA Games

ok. So do i connect the bump map node to the texture node ? in the hypershade?

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There is an easier way. Add the bump map texture in the Material attributes under Bump Mapping by clicking on the checkered box. You can adjust the intensity under bump depth.

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EA Games

yeah i found out. Eventually...

But it still seems quite dull :/

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It looks like you put on a texture before you smoothed your polygon. Try smoothing first and then put on your texture. You could use bump mapping on the outside area of the chip.

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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw - Man and Superman

What do you mean by "Putting on a texture"....?

And you should ALWAYS, except in very rare conditions:

1. Model
2. Layout UV's
3. Paint Texture
4. Smooth

Well i would agree with DJbLAZER

But an idea for the Bump Maps. Would it be smart to scan a B/W image of the chip to get the bump mapping in the ridges! ? Would it work ?

And secondly. When i render it becomes quite dull, so how do i achieve that "Bright Look" ? Should i make it a DGS_material and work with some HDRI ?

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This was what i was talking about. The dull feeling. This was a quick render, so i didn't smoothe >.< but i hope u get what i'm saying

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Here's the poker chip that I posted earlier. I used photoshop. All I did was make it black and white, invert the tones, adjusted the levels and messed with the gradient map. I did this is 1 min. Obviously you would take your time. But it's just an example of how to get your bump maps using the same image.

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EA Games

i kinda got the same idea for a bump map. But shoulden't the y differ more from black to white? .

Anyways ill try it out later. Work comes first: P

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If you mean your texure is dull because it doesn't shine then adjust the eccentricity in your blinn to make a tighter highlight which will make it look more like plastic.
Then tweek the relectivity and specular roll off to suit.
you can use a spec map if you want the texture to be worn and less reflective say in the middle.

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2 x Modeling Challenge Winner

jsprogg: ah ok, i think ill toy with that tonight Thx fot the tip

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